Sunday, October 22, 2006



Perched on his diving board at his West Vancouver home in June of 1995 Daryl Duke looked to me like a cross between Joseph in his many-coloured coat and John Cheever stepping into his own story The Swimmer . It didn't take long to convince the man (a TV and film legend in Canada) since I had the pursuasive influence of writer John Lekich. We had been assigned by Equity Magazine to do a story on him. The experience was specially pleasant as Duke's wife, Anne-Marie was a good host.

Writer John Lekich can make even a stone sound eloquent. In this case Lekich did not have to push hard, since Duke always liked to talk. I read countless essays and letters to the editor in the Vancouver Sun in which Duke lamented CBC's lack of local programming, specially the multi-ethnic kind. My favourite quote in Lekich's Equity article:

I (John Lekich) ask him what he thinks about when he sees the setting sun from his window. "Travel has really broadened my horizons," he says. "While my parents tended to think of Vancouver as the last stop on the railroad, I've come to realize that a setting sun here is really just the beginning of the day for most of the world's population."

Daryl Duke (77) died this weekend.